It's Hard Out Here For A Black Man

The Times has a frightening article about the plight of black men in America:

BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.

Focusing more closely than ever on the life patterns of young black men, the new studies, by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions, show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming ever more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men.

...These were among the recent findings:

¶The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.

¶Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990's and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20's who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30's, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.

¶In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.

Here are more shocking factoids:

With the shift from factory jobs, unskilled workers of all races have lost ground, but none more so than blacks. By 2004, 50 percent of black men in their 20's who lacked a college education were jobless, as were 72 percent of high school dropouts, according to data compiled by Bruce Western, a sociologist at Princeton and author of the forthcoming book "Punishment and Inequality in America" (Russell Sage Press). These are more than double the rates for white and Hispanic men.

...Among black dropouts in their late 20's, more are in prison on a given day — 34 percent — than are working — 30 percent — according to an analysis of 2000 census data by Steven Raphael of the University of California, Berkeley.

Let's close with a tribute to Academy Award winners Three 6 Mafia:

Terrible schools, absent parents, racism, the decline in blue collar jobs and a subculture that glorifies swagger over work have all been cited as causes of the deepening ruin of black youths. Scholars — and the young men themselves — agree that all of these issues must be addressed.

Comments

[syn]

What can be expected when some white Liberal imposes affirmative action upon a specific people. Combine Margaret Sanger's philosophy of socially engineering the perfect race by aborting out the unwanteds with white Liberal belief that blacks are not capable of achieving their full potential without affirmative action and you'll end up with an entire race of people who don't recongnize they were forced into living under the slavery of serfdom.

I recently had a conversation with a young black female and mentioned Thomas Sowell whom she had never heard of, then all the sudden an older black women entered the conversation declaring Sowell's economic 'free-market' philosophy was BS and began rambling off a bunch of Marxist authors.

I guess that the greatest fear secular Marxist have today is that the truth will expose the fact that the road to serfdom is paved with misery, poverty and oppression.

[Dwilkers]

...By 2004, 50 percent of black men in their 20's who lacked a college education were jobless, as were 72 percent of high school dropouts...

I find that very hard to believe.

[kim]

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen.

A society built on community labor alone is impoverished indeed.
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[kim]

D, it is difficult to form your head around it. Take a chunk out incarcerated, take a chunk banging, meaning working but not formally so, add a little attitude to the base unemployment rate and you start reaching those numbers. Someone should wonder why the slavish persistence of this victim class. Who benefits from their subjugation?
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[capitano]

Serious commentators on this subject would blame *any* culture that devalues education. It's a continuing problem in lower class white and hispanic neighborhoods, but epidemic in black communities.

That so few black leaders are willing to criticize the deliberate sabatoge of successive generations of black youth for "acting white" tells you all you need to know about black leadership and who is responsible.

[maryrose]

I worked with at risk students in an inner ring suburb in the early 90's we had some success at the 7th and 8th grade level. Once they got to high school it became a bigger challenge. Attendance even with the help of truant officers became the biggest challenge. In many cases grandmother was the respected, authority and was raising the kids.

[kim]

Charter schools can be the solution.

A continuing paradox which perplexes me is that the bluest urban areas have the worst public education. Why doesn't Somerby believe in charter schools and why is he even liberal, anymore? The paradigm has failed massively in education.
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[Dwilkers]

Its just outside my experience.

I live in the suburbs of Houston. My neighborhood - in fact the whole area - is totally mixed race. The black folks around here are some of the best parents around. Their kids are respectful, well mannered and they go to school. Same with the other races. If you were going to pick out the 'bad' parents you'd end up with mostly white folks on the list.

My next door neighbor is black, he's retired but he and I do a lot of stuff together, usually we have something going on every week. 2 houses down from him is another black guy, he owns a charter bus company and does quite well. In my former neighborhood the absolute best parents on the street were black. I'd guess they are all Dems but - adjusting for cultural differences - I'd describe them as 'just like white folks', or perhaps in a more PC way as 'perfectly normal'.

So anecdotally its just hard for me to get my mind around that so high a percentage is unemployed. But this isn't a big city urban area with a ton of public housing or something like that.

[Rick Ballard]

"A continuing paradox which perplexes me is that the bluest urban areas have the worst public education."

Why is that a paradox, let alone perplexing? Blue Castle moat dwellers have functional utility to the Blue Barons one day every two years. Aside from election day they serve as objects justifying the existence of the organized service providers (think overseers without disciplinary authority - or any responsibility). It's a simple life and very natural as a study of diseased bee hives would show. A slothful queen surrounded by defective worker bees whose sloth kills most of the larvae. Happens every day.

Dwilkers - that's why the Blue Barons hate the 'burbs. Let folks move to the 'burbs and own rather than rent and the next thing you know they become undependable on election day - they start trying to "conserve" what they have earned.

[kim]

In your direct experience all the kids are headed to college; it is a different demographic. Interesting, too, that it is a blue neighborhood with successful public education.
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[kim]

Must you be so explicit, Rick?
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[kim]

Don't misunderstand me, Rick, it's not the lovely birds and bees stuff, it's the public utterance that D's neighbors might be voting more Republican than they once did.
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[Rick Ballard]

After tutoring kids at a black middle school for a couple of years in the early '90's, talking to the school administrators and spending time with the teachers, yes.

Charter schools would help some kids but it won't cure the systemic rot that pervades most of the Blue Castles. Hurricane Katrina probably saved more people than any other natural event in US history.

[Gary Maxwell]

In case anyone does not understand the term "acting white" translates into going to class, doing your homework and performing well in school. And much much peer pressure ensues on those who don't follow the cathecism. Since factory jobs which require little skill and even less education are in declining supply, is it a wonder that a lack of education translates into a lack of a job?

[cathyf]

Maybe 5-10 years ago I read a statistic that married black men and married white men have virtually the same income levels. I think it's important to understand that there are really two vastly different groups here -- one is pretty much doing fine, while the other group is a complete disaster. The problem with looking at the average of the two groups is that it gives you a picture of people who are badly off, but not too bad, but in reality there aren't that many who are "average" -- most people are either much better off or much worse off than average. Targetting lots of attention on the "average" misses the boat. In fact there is a much smaller group that needs help, but they need way more help.

cathy :-)

[Jeff Z]

A lot of this data is more alarmist that it needs to be (which granted is still plenty alarming), because of false, incomplete, and misleading comparisons.

I don't have time to go over it in any detail, but for example, in the last factoid:

"...Among black dropouts in their late 20's, more are in prison on a given day — 34 percent — than are working — 30 percent — according to an analysis of 2000 census data by Steven Raphael of the University of California, Berkeley."

I checked the US 2000 Census, which reported that there 1.1 million black males in the 25-29 cohort. However, note that Raphael statistic applies only to dropouts, not to all black males. It is very hard to figure out exactly what percentage of this group are dropouts, anywhere from 15 to 40%, but let's say its 33%. This means about 367,000 black men between 25 and 29.
34% are in prison, on any given day, about 127,000 and 30% are working, about 110,000. These are wretched figures, but not quite cataclysmic. Another definition I'd like is precisely what "any given day" means.

The point is that stats have to be checked carefully and when they seemed designed to mislead, as in this article, they should be ignored. For example, this table: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/hsgec.t02.htm paints a more hopeful picture with a more recent cohort.

[Jim L]

My life experience was similar in many respects to this group; although I am a middle-aged white guy born and raised in Compton, California. Lower class parents who minimally worked and partied to the maximum. No family history of higher education, much less finishing high school. Self-decribed class victims; rich people are keeping us down. Marx was right.

I didn't wake up until my mid thirties. I looked around and realized that all those rich people had something in common: college. Sure it was hard, but college was my ticket out. Starting in community college and now working on my dissertation, I can unreservedly confirm that education is the only common factor in doing well.

Now I have a great family, a great career, personal wealth, and I am invested in my new community. I even serve as a city councilman in my adopted home town. No government program will solve these problems until folks acknowledge that they too have power. Life is tough, but my road is much less difficult than a life in the subculture of crime and hate.

[Jeremy]

Im a black man myself in college attaining a Political Science/U.S. History degree, so that I might be able to get my Law degree! My father wasnt there for me, though he was not the typical young, poor Black father that evades his responsiblities(his family), as he has money! I am blessed to have a strong, supportive family, though! But, as to the question of Black men lacking in eduation, wealth, etc-- it really does start with self-responsibility! Im personally sick and tired of the anti-establishment folk that blame everything on the "system"! Now, dont get me wrong---Yes, that "evil institution" that was slavery did a number on our race and literally put us behind 400 years! Thats indisputable! But, at some point--we must(as menfolk) understand that those Black men that were slaves had an unrelenting burning in their stomachs to do better and to escape if they could! They might have been afraid to do so, but I can guarantee-they kept that goal of freedom at the forefront of their minds! Likewise, Its my belief that mind should be put over matter---we dont have nearly the obstacles to overcome as they did! Now, this is really an oversimplified version and of course when you get into the fine details, its more complex and involves much sociological&political studying--but I feel that the first step is to say:Im Going to do better, because I am better--better than what I am portrayed as in the media and better than what I am expected to be! If we dont achieve that level of self-respect first, then we cant do much when it comes to solving the more difficult problems that lie before us. So, I hope this is the direction that my fellow "brothas" start to head in! I know that instead of just talking about it---I will be using my skills and knowledge to advance the cause of particularly African-American men! I seriously hope more people would do the same, instead of simply finding someone or something to blame!

[MayBee]

Oh, Jim L and Jeremy, you are so right.
Education eduction education. A good work ethic and education.
When education is already free, what can we do to make people take that opportunity seriously?

[vtconomist]

MayBee,

Perhaps a way to make them take the opportunity seriously is to make it a serious opportunity. The schools that most of these children attend are horrible.

[kim]

Cha cha cha cha charter
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[bandit]

'Scholars — and the young men themselves — agree that all of these issues must be addressed.'

By somebody else.